New-member welcome summaries

What a new member receives

A new member receives a private DM summarizing recent conversation they can already access, with links back to the messages. It gives them context for joining the conversation. Servers with membership screening wait until the member accepts the rules; servers without screening consider the welcome when they join. Bots are skipped.

This feature is separate from the setup DM sent to the person who installs Summary Bot. Receiving that installation message does not enable welcomes for other members.

Welcomes are off by default and available on Pro and Scale. Enabling them applies to future arrivals and screening completions; it does not send a welcome to everyone already in the server.

Enable and manage welcomes

In the server you manage, run:

/admin welcome

The private New-member welcome summaries panel shows whether welcomes are on, the server’s plan, today’s slots used, source selection, credit limit, and funding. Choose sources and a per-welcome limit, then choose Enable to start. Return to the same panel and choose Disable to stop future runs.

The New-member welcome setup button in /admin setup opens this same panel. Use /admin setup to review the bot’s channel permissions, and /privacy channel to exclude a source from summarization across the bot. These exclusions also affect other summaries, not just welcomes.

Source channelsdefault: all eligible

Select up to 25 text, announcement, or forum channels. Eligible public active threads under a selected channel can also contribute. Reset to all eligible channels to remove this welcome-specific filter. An empty selection means all eligible sources, not none; use Disable to stop welcomes.

Credit limitdefault: 3,000

Set the maximum credits for one welcome, from 100 to 3,000. A lower limit can keep a smaller slice of the newest conversation. It does not change the plan’s daily slot allowance.

Sources and fixed defaults

Both the new member and Summary Bot must be able to read a source. Selecting a channel does not grant access or override bot-wide channel exclusions and authors’ /privacy optout choices. Private and archived threads are excluded; readable active public threads and forum posts can contribute when their parent is included in the selection.

Conversation selection

The bot surveys eligible sources, selects up to five channel or thread groups, and uses up to 150 recent messages for generation. Discovery can scan more sources and messages than the final summary uses. There is no fixed calendar lookback.

Quality and language

Fast quality and Standard detail, using the recipient’s language preference from /settings. Without a preference, it follows the conversation’s language.

Quiet conversations

The selected conversation must contain at least 12 messages from two people and 160 characters of content before it is considered worth summarizing. A quiet server may produce no welcome DM.

The channel report in /admin setup checks the bot’s permissions for the listed text channels. It does not preview what a particular newcomer can read. Review the member’s roles and channel access in Discord too.

Credits and daily slots

Welcomes use the server’s shared credits. If those run out, a configured server overage key can fund them. The recipient’s personal key and interactive member limits do not fund or cap this automation.

Each run keeps the newest messages that fit within your per-welcome credit limit, up to a 3,000-credit ceiling. The actual charge depends on the content summarized. These caps limit automatic spending; they do not reserve credits for other commands or guarantee that the shared balance will last.

Daily slots used counts runs admitted for generation, not confirmed DM deliveries. A slot can be used even if generation or delivery later fails. Credits for completed generation are settled before the DM is sent, so a blocked or failed DM can still leave a charge.

When the daily cap is reached, further welcomes stop for that UTC day and the bot attempts to notify the enabling admin, or the installer if no enabling admin is recorded. Certain credit, plan, or key failures turn the feature off and attempt an admin DM. Check /admin welcome for its current state and /usage for the shared balance.

How credits and server overage work

Choose whether to receive welcomes

Anyone can stop receiving these DMs across every server using Summary Bot. Run this in a server where the bot is installed:

/privacy welcome receive:false

That preference wins over every server’s welcome setting. To allow welcomes again, run /privacy welcome receive:true. Changing the preference does not request an immediate welcome or send one for a past join.

To exclude your own messages from summaries in a particular server, use /privacy optout there. This is separate from whether you receive welcome DMs.

When no welcome DM arrives

• Check the switch and plan. Open /admin welcome. Welcomes must be enabled on Pro or Scale; a credit, plan, or key failure may have switched them off. Resolve the issue before enabling again.
• Check daily slots and funding. The allowance resets at midnight UTC. Run /usage to inspect the server’s credits and overage state.
• Check the arrival. The member must finish any membership screening. Turning welcomes on does not send them retroactively to existing members.
• Check readable conversation. Both the recipient and bot need access, and the source selection must include enough substantive conversation after exclusions. A quiet or restricted server can be skipped.
• Check the recipient’s preferences. Their global welcome opt-out, Discord DM settings, or a block can prevent delivery. Enabling the server feature does not override those choices.

The panel’s slot counter does not prove a member received a DM. If the checks above do not explain the missing welcome, see Getting help.